Monthly Archives: September 2015

Bulk post right now. I’d ordered some more capacitors to redo the speakers. Previously I’d been somewhat disheartened with the sound quality, and was in two minds whether to keep them or not.

One corner of one has seen some water damage, from source unknown. Put a flat edge against it and glued it back down.

Mostly stuck down well, which is good. Just left the finish all kinda nasty where the lacquer and stain had come off.

Ordered some new Nichicon 50V bipolar capacitors to replace the (probably original) Rubycons.

The sound difference was striking. At this point I decided to keep the speakers.

Tidied up and pushed the speakers into place. Bought some wire to hook the speakers up properly all around the room. Been listening to some SQ recordings, Pink Floyd seemed to use the quad for effect, listened to some Billy Joel where it was more akin to being in the studio where it was recorded, a natural surround sound.

I’d been avoiding the grille that got wet. The cloth was horrible and the grille had swollen and split open.

Started by removing the staples. Sharpened screwdriver is a useful tool.

Then, with the same tool, split the cloth from the wood by pushing the glue away.

Yup, pretty nasty. You can’t easily get to that side of the cloth when it’s fixed to the grille.

There’s a fair bit of contrast between the front and the back. Mostly just dirt.

Without the grille cloth the grilles look a bit odd, these don’t really suit being able to see the innards of the speakers.

Took a brush and some stain remover, and put the cloth in the bathtub.

Needless to say, it was pretty filthy.

Dried it out a bit with the hairdryer on cool so not as to shrink it too badly.

Quite an improvement, however the staining is still there and the stitching is faded in places.

Mixed up some cool water and laundry detergent in a turkey pan and left it soak overnight.

Under bright light, submerged in water, the color of the back of the cloth shows through nicely. Black and bottle green. Sadly, the cloth fell apart when it was rinsed. I’ve ordered some that looks similar but is black and tan- shall try dyeing it to achieve a bottle green and black.

The bottom rail of the grille was split off where the grille had expanded and pushed it open.

Out with the glue again.

Got it all strapped up with elastic bungies and ratchet straps. That should stay and hold overnight until the glue sets. I can then begin sanding things down. I have sandpaper and such, new wood stain. I think I’m going to go for an oiled finish on these rather than lacquered.

With the introduction of a quadraphonic hi-fi in the living room, I required a couple more loudspeakers to make it be the requisite 4.

Took a look in the local small ads and ended up buying a set of 1968 Sansui SP-200’s. Big old beasts, a little beaten up but overall in fairly good shape.

They need completely stripping back and refinishing really- the finish is good but a bit beaten up.

The heat did make the oil haze, so that’ll need to be redone, but I did manage to steam the worst of the dents out.

Depending on how deep the finish is, it might just take a rub-down and re-oil; if not they’ll be rubbed back thoroughly and re-stained to match the cabinetry in the living room.

The drivers are ok, the grilles are a bit worse for wear- that’s going to be fun to repair- and they need a recap, which will be a fairly inexpensive venture.
Looking at it, the grille cloths will either need replacing, or at the very least, un-stapling and given a thorough clean.

The interior is in good shape, which is promising, and the capacitors, although slightly odd values by today’s standards, should be easy to replace, and the switch again should be easy to clean up.

The car had been getting progressively more noisy over asymmetrical bumps. Last time it was up on ramps I had noted that the swaybar to frame bushings had seen better days. Ordered myself some more and they arrived in this afternoon.

Pretty simple stuff, with some sort of odd, low friction woven stuff inside. Put the car up on ramps this evening.

Not much of the old bushing still there. Undoing and cleaning up the bracket showed where there has been metal on metal contact for a while. Whoever decided not to have captive nuts here needs to be reprimanded, as you cannot get a wrench in on the nut.

The bushing on the passenger side was in slightly better shape, but still pretty abysmal.

Decided to just drop the entire bar down.

This is all that was left of the left hand side bushing. It appears gearbox oil had done a number on the rubber.

Cleaned up the grime. Yup, there’s been some metal-on-metal contact on the bracket’s base also.

Slid the new bushings on.

Got them all clamped back up.

Needless to say the suspension feels tighter, there is a complete absence of thumps and bangs from the front end, and it’s generally more pleasant to drive. Win.